Baby Boom Couple Wanting To Down Size

Baby boom couple wanting to down size. We want to sell antiques, Xmas tree decorations, tree, chain saw, Waterford collections, Lionel train set and tracks. Lots of other stuff. What is my best avenue to accomplish this in the next 6 months?

The things of value, ie Waterford, lionel trains could be sold on ebay or craigslist.net Other items could be sold in a consignment store. After that, I think you are probably stuck with having a garage sale. Remember donating and getting the tax break is sometimes better and easier than anything else. GOOD LUCK!

I would try your local auctioneers. They usually have auctions once per week with items such as what you're mentioning. It would be a lot less hassle. They take the same percentage off the winning bid as eBay and others. But the plus in this at this moment... online buyers are going to pinch their bids because of the expensive shipping costs going on. I really think you'd come out a lot further at your local auction or even Craig's List. Craig's List lets you list your items for free and directly to your local area. Your buyers are able to pick up their items, themselves..

My husband and I became empty nesters 3 years ago. We moved to a different state and bought a small ranch style home. It was hard at first to get rid of things but then it became like a weight off our shoulders. We kept our most favorite collections/items. The rest we put on ebay, gave to relatives and friends that we knew loved that particular item. We donated most of it. Make sure you take pictures of what you donate and keep a detailed list with values and get a donation form from who you give your items too. It's really worth it to donate them. You are helping out a charity. Getting a BIG tax break which helped us when we were making this big transition. You can use the newspaper to advertise items for sale. We have a local pennysaver paper that comes free in the mail to everyone in our area that you can list your ad in. Then you have "freecycle" that you can join on the internet to give away your unwanted items to people in your area to keep them out of the landfill. I was able to get moving boxes from being a member of freecycle. For free! And of course you have the yard sale. Won't make as much as if you donate but if you need quick cash for moving this could help. Things go for cheap at yard sales but it would get rid of all your extra kitchen items, clothes, shoes etc... that aren't what you want to take with you to your new life.

Be careful with Craigslist! I have heard a few horror stories (a couple happened to friends of mine) about dishonest/disreputable people and criminals answering those adds. Be sure to meet in a public place with the item or make sure you have a couple extra friends hanging around if you have the people pick items up at your home.

When DH and I did this (we were living in a medium size city at the time), we sold some items via auction (including a pickup bed load full of old tools)and our nicer unwanted furniture through a consignment store. We were fortunate both those businesses were very competent at what they did, and we made quite a bit of money. IMO Ebay is not an effective place to sell large items or ones in common supply. If you have unusual, desirable collectables, maybe.

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Now I live in a large metropolitan area. A couple years ago I sold some living room furniture on Craig's List. I didn't much like the idea of strangers coming into my home and I made sure my husband was there when they did. It was quite a bit of hassle with appointments, etc. and I'd hate to try to dispose of a lot of household items that way.